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[Harold F. Schiffman]

March 9, 2008
Malaysias Governing Coalition Suffers a Setback

By THOMAS FULLER

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Malaysias governing coalition, which has run this
multiracial country without any major challenges for the past four
decades, suffered a string of election defeats on Saturday, losing control
of three major states and all but surrendering urban areas to the
opposition. Results early Sunday showed that the coalition of Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi won 136 of 222 seats in Parliament, enough
to be able to remain in power. But unexpectedly strong gains by opposition
parties, which quadrupled their seats in Parliament, are likely to
challenge the longstanding paternalistic practices of a government that
controls the mainstream media, bans most street protests, bars students
from taking part in politics and jails political opponents without trial.

Stripped of their long-held two-thirds majority in Parliament, the
governing coalition will no longer be able to freely amend the
Constitution, which it has done more than 40 times since independence from
Britain in 1957. Anger among ethnic Indians and Chinese over religious
disputes and economic preferences for the Malays, the majority ethnic
group, appeared to play a major role in the oppositions gains.

I don't think Malaysian politics will ever be the same again, said Anwar
Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister who was expelled from the
governing party a decade ago and is now one of the leaders of the
opposition. There is a wave, an outcry for democratic reform. The
opposition parties unseated several political veterans by fielding fresh
but inexperienced candidates, including a political science professor, a
popular blogger and a human rights advocate.

Opposition candidates did especially well in urban areas, winning 10 of
the 11 seats in Kuala Lumpur, the commercial capital, and capturing the
relatively prosperous and populous states of Selangor and Penang. The
opposition also made inroads into the rural heartland. The Pan-Islamic
Party, one of the three main opposition parties, strengthened its control
over the northern state of Kelantan and won control over the states of
Kedah and Perak. Losing control of those states is a blow for the
governing coalition because states have jurisdiction over land allocation,
local matters and Islamic laws.

Voters showed their anger over a recent government crackdown against
ethnic Indians by electing to a state legislature M. Manoharan, one of
five advocates jailed after a street protest by Indians. It is unclear how
Mr. Manoharan, who is being detained without a trial, will carry out his
duties. The loss of Penang, which alone among Malaysias 13 states has a
majority of Chinese voters, is a major blow to Mr. Abdullah, whose
constituency is based there. The state is an industrial center, producing
microchips, cellphones and computer parts in factories owned by Intel,
Dell and Motorola, among many others.

The departing chief minister, or governor, of Penang, Koh Tsu Koon, lost
his seat on Saturday to a dissident university professor, P. Ramasamy. The
leaders of the two ethnic Indians parties represented in the government
also lost their seats, including the only ethnic Indian in the cabinet,
Samy Vellu. Those losses call into question the future of the countrys
race-based coalition, a system in place since independence in which each
major ethnic group Malays, Chinese and Indians is represented by a
political party.

Opposition leaders have vowed to move Malaysia away from the system, with
the National Justice Party of Mr. Anwar the loudest proponent of the
change. Mr. Anwar, who many see as a possible future prime minister, is
barred from holding public office until April because of a conviction for
abuse of power in a politically charged trial. But his wife and his
daughter won seats in Parliament on Saturday. He said in an interview that
he would not rule out asking a member of his party to resign so he can run
in a by-election. I'm not in a hurry, said Mr. Anwar, whose party won 32
seats, up from one seat in the last election in 2004.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/world/asia/09malaysia.html?hp

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